Alan Partridge: filming begins today on new series, details released

Here are the details of the brand new BBC Alan Partridge TV show, that’s begun filming…

As promised, Alan Partridge will be returning to the BBC for a full new series later this year – and it’s been officially announced that filming is now underway.

The new series will be called This Time With Alan Partridge, and will star, of course, Steve Coogan. Coogan has co-written the show with Rob and Neil Gibbons, and the latter two will be directing the six new half-hour episodes as well.

Official details of the new show have been released as well, and they read as follows…

The show will see Alan (Steve Coogan) handed a career lifeline – the chance to stand in (temporarily) as co-host on This Time, an evening weekday magazine show.

His first return to live television since his 90s chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You was cancelled after a guest was fatally shot on air, This Time is the perfect shop window for a man of Alan’s gravitas and will, or should, see him finally recognised as one of the heavyweight broadcasters of his era.

The show itself is a heady mix of consumer affairs, current affairs, viewer interaction, highbrow interview and lightweight froth; very much the sweet spots for a man whose CV boasts over two decades of weekday local radio. And with an array of diverse subjects on the agenda, it promises the perfect fit for a man whose broadcasting style has been described as ‘equidistant between chitchat and analysis.’

Joining Steve Coogan on the sofa will be Susannah Fielding as his female co-presenter Jennie Gresham, and Tim Key as Simon ‘formerly Sidekick Simon’ Denton. Full casting will be announced in due course.